Environmental Review Draft 040925

Get Involved in the Environmental
Review Process

In accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act, Metropolitan is seeking public input on its Draft Environmental Impact Report for Pure Water Southern California, a regional recycled water program that would purify and reuse cleaned wastewater that currently flows into the ocean. At full scale, the program could produce 150 million gallons of purified water each day, enough to meet the needs of millions of Southern Californians and make us more resilient to droughts, earthquakes and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns. This proposed program would build an advanced water purification facility in Carson, as well as new pipelines to deliver that water to local groundwater basins and Metropolitan’s water treatment plants.

The DEIR is an important document that helps inform the public and decision-makers about a project's potential impacts to local communities and the environment and identifies ways to avoid, minimize or reduce those impacts. This in an opportunity to review potential impacts associated with the program and provide comments about the environmental analysis.

At this stage in the environmental review process, comments that focus on the adequacy of the analysis presented in the DEIR are most helpful, including comments that address potential environmental impacts, proposed mitigation measures and program alternatives outlined in the DEIR. Metropolitan and the Sanitation Districts will review all officially submitted comments prior to finalizing the DEIR, and our responses will be included in the Final EIR.

Learn More & Make Your Voice Heard

Public Information Meetings

Wednesday, May 28, 2025,
11 a.m.
Zoom Link

Thursday, June 12, 2025,
6 p.m.
Zoom Link

Saturday, June 14, 2025,
10 a.m.
Location: Carson, California

Meetings will provide information on the Pure Water Southern California Program and the opportunity to learn more about the public review and comment process. They will be held in English with live interpretation in Spanish. Other languages may be made upon request. Please visit www.mwdh2o.com/PureWaterDEIR to register for a public meeting, and include any of your language needs within the form at least 72 hours prior to the meeting.

Community Events

Visit our booth to learn more about the DEIR.

Saturday, May 17, 2025
10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Heritage of Aloha Festival
Heritage Park, Santa Fe Springs

Saturday, June 21, 2025
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
City Yard Open House
Torrance City Yard, Torrance

Thursday, July 10, 2025
6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Summer Concert in the Park
Del Valle Park, Lakewood

Review a Hard Copy of the DEIR

Copies of the DEIR and its appendices are available for public review at the following locations:

Metropolitan Headquarters Building
700 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles
Contact Ana Reyes for an appointment

Carson Library
151 E. Carson Street, Carson

Billie Jean King Main Library
200 W. Broadway, Long Beach

Downey City Library
11121 Brookshire Avenue, Downey

Pico Rivera Library
9001 Mines Avenue, Pico Rivera

El Monte Library
3224 Tyler Avenue, El Monte

Azusa City Library
729 N. Dalton Avenue, Azusa

A Guide to Participating & Providing Comments on the Draft EIR

Please submit comments by July 14, 2025 using one of the following methods:

Submit comments here.

Email your comments to [email protected] and include “Pure Water Southern California Draft EIR” in the subject line.

Mail your written comments to:

Ms. Ana Reyes
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Environmental Planning Section
P.O. Box 54153
Los Angeles, CA 90054-0153

Steps in the Environmental Review Process

The environmental review process helps a project meet requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act. As part of this process, Metropolitan and the Sanitation Districts prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Development of that report features three phases and opportunities for the public to get involved.

1. Scoping Phase: Complete

The first part of the environmental review process is the scoping phase, which is initiated by a Notice of Preparation that tells public agencies and interested parties that an Environmental Impact Report will be prepared. Feedback is encouraged to help identify environmental issues and raise questions and concerns for further study in the EIR. Project alternatives, community impacts and mitigation measures also are considered.

We completed the scoping phase of the environmental review process in November 2022.

2. Draft EIR: Available for public comment and review

The Draft EIR is now available for public review to allow community members, interested parties and agencies the opportunity to provide feedback to ensure the environmental analysis is thorough and considers potential impacts from construction, as well as from long-term operation of the new facilities.

At this stage in the environmental review process, comments that focus on the adequacy of the analysis presented in the Draft EIR are most helpful, including comments that address potential environmental impacts, proposed mitigation measures and program alternatives outlined in the DEIR.

Metropolitan will review and respond to all officially submitted comments as it finalizes the program’s final EIR.

Please submit any public comments by June __, 2025.

3. Final EIR Certification: Late 2025 – Early 2026

After reviewing and preparing responses to public comments provided during the DEIR stage, Metropolitan staff will finalize the EIR, which will be considered for certification by Metropolitan’s Board of Directors at a public board meeting.